Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, on Thursday accused President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans of raising costs for Americans through health care cuts, tariffs and the Iran war, attaching to his post an official statement reacting to a 3.6 percent annual PCE inflation reading for September.
The Post
Boyle published the statement on X at 8:13 AM on Oct. 29. It reads in full:
“This do-nothing president and Republicans in Congress had two years to lower costs for Americans.
So far, they’ve raised costs by cutting your health care, imposing new tariff taxes, and starting another forever war.
Americans know Trump’s agenda has ruined our economy.”
The Attached Statement
Boyle attached to the post his official statement, “Boyle Statement on September 2026 PCE Inflation Data,” posted on the House Budget Committee Democrats’ website on Oct. 29. It says the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported an annual personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index of 3.6 percent for September.
In the statement, Boyle says the report confirms what working families already know: “inflation is too high, and President Trump is to blame.” He says Trump broke a promise to lower costs on his first day and has made life more expensive. He attributes the strain on working people to Trump’s “tariff taxes,” his health care cuts and what he calls a disastrous Iran war.
The release closes by directing readers to the Budget Committee Democrats’ cost-of-living page, which tracks what the committee calls the Trump-Republican cost-of-living crisis across congressional districts.
Boyle’s Record on Health Care
Boyle’s health care criticism runs through his Budget Committee statements. On Nov. 12, 2025, he voted against a Republican spending bill that, he said, failed to address the party’s health care cuts, and warned of rising premiums. On Feb. 24, 2026, after the State of the Union, he said Republicans had passed the largest cuts to health care and food assistance in American history to finance tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.
Reuters reported on April 15 that Boyle, at a Budget Committee hearing with White House budget director Russell Vought, cited forecasts that the 2025 tax-and-spending law’s health care provisions would cost more than 15 million people their coverage. Vought defended the law as achieving $2 trillion in mandatory savings through cuts to Medicaid and food assistance.
Boyle’s Record on Tariffs
Boyle has described the tariffs as a tax on consumers since the start of the second term. On March 3, 2025, he called the Mexico and Canada tariffs “a tax on working families” and said Trump had promised to lower costs on day one. On Nov. 20, 2025, he cited testimony from the CBO director that tariffs were driving up the cost of living.
On Feb. 11, 2026, responding to the CBO’s 2026–2036 outlook, he said tariffs slow growth, reduce investment and weaken job creation. The Budget Committee Democrats’ site lists additional Feb. 11 and Feb. 20 statements on a House vote to terminate Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports and a Supreme Court ruling striking down tariff actions.
Boyle’s Record on the Iran War
On March 5, Boyle issued a statement after voting for a War Powers Resolution blocking further military action against Iran. He said Trump was plunging the country into a costly war “without clear objectives” and without an exit strategy, while calling the Iranian regime evil and a threat. He added that Americans want lower costs and affordable health care rather than billions spent on an unnecessary war.
Boyle also asked the nonpartisan CBO for an estimate of the war’s cost, including scenarios where it ran longer or involved ground troops, and for an analysis of the effect on domestic prices. A later CBO report put the cost at nearly $40 billion and said the war would leave the U.S. with a reduced stock of interceptors for several years.
Boyle criticized House Budget Republicans for advancing a budget resolution adding nearly $100 billion to the deficit, largely to fund the war. He called it a vote to “bankroll the most unpopular war in American history” and noted that all 14 Democratic amendments in the markup were rejected, including ones to reverse Medicaid and SNAP cuts.